That's a good, fair demo. Objectively, I thought the perceived output on the recording was louder and with more body and presence on positions 5 and 1 for the Zexcoils. The 2 & 4 positions for the Zexcoils have more..."depth" I guess might be a good way to put it, not as flat sounding, but still very quacky. Of course, all of these things are matter of taste for what you think is best, but I think it IS fair to say that the Zexcoils don't suck! Thanks for posting!
I was aiming for a fair representation so it's nice to hear the maker of the pickups confirm that. I have to say there is some noteworthy innovation in your design. I remember the G&L Z- pickups that wind 3 pole pieces + 3 pole pieces that Leo designed. You took that a step further by winding each magnet to end up with 6 total coils. I bet the engineering involved to iron out the other variables like magnet material & size, wire gauge and number of wraps, etc... to get these to sound like early 50's and 60's Fender single coils had to be pretty involved. It's impressive that you've fit all of that in the same space. It's very efficient and as someone who has appreciation for good design I admire the economy in your work. BUT most important of all they sound how good single coils should. Other stacked coil noiseless designs always sound dull to my ear. The Zexcoils don't. They sound like a single coil should. Even though I'm still getting familiar with them, I'm happy with the tone of them. My only user feedback would be this: you might want to consider offering a different cover. I think your older pickup cover with the magnet showing through is more aesthetically pleasing from a traditional perspective. I don't think those were available for this specific set of pickups. I would've even opted for flat pickup covers with faux pole pieces painted on had that been an option or pickup covers cut like traditional pickup covers with some thin, matte black material that rests between the magnets and the cover. I think by and large guitar players lean into the traditional 50's and 60s aesthetics and as much as it pains me to say this, the looks do matter on some level. I think it would make it easier for potential new customers to make the leap if these had a more traditional appearance. That said, I'm pleased with purchase and think these offer value worthy of the price. Thanks for chiming in and thanks for sharing the video!
also to be noted here - zexcoil offers multiple sets of single coil sounds from vintage to modern. if you prefer the stock ones here I'm sure you'll find a set that sound more in that alley on zexcoil side minus the hum.
That is a good point to make. This is only one example of a single sound they offer. There are other sonic options available. Thanks for bringing that up. And thanks for watching.
Nice! Thanks for the feedback. Yeah tonal speaking they’re my favorite noiseless pickup design of what I’ve tried. I wish they made the covers with the exposed magnets like the earlier versions or offer a flat pickup cover with faux pole pieces painted on.
I just dropped in my son's old Zexcoil into my USA Strat....huge improvement. Huge and far more versatile in all 5 + positions. The stocks you have sounds really good...if they came from a band...then I doubt they were stock pups but also an upgrade. No?
The old pickups were stock. A band was supposed to autograph the guitar as the prize for the contest my sister won - so we told em just send the guitar bc we didn’t care about the autographs.
Apparently they offer a variety of different sounding pickups too. These definitely don’t sound like the dull stacked coil noiseless designs I’ve tried in the past.
Honestly, I wish I had also recorded the stock pickups completely clean. I don't know what I was thinking. So I agree, but not enough to reinstall the stock pickups and reinstall these again. 😂
Commenting before I listen to your conclusion... Definitely an improvement. I am not sold on the concept of "noiseless" pickups, but these sound good. I like the stock Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups in my Jeff Beck Strat, too, but also love the normal "noisy" pickups like those in my G&L Legacy or '59 AVRI Strat. That said, the Lawing pickups are generally less harsh and have more highs and slightly less perceived volume than the stock ones. Seems like the pickup where there was the least amount of difference in tone was the center. Bridge pickup is always the hardest for me in isolation like this, most single coils in a Strat Style guitar sound a bit too biting. As you know already - Noiseless pickups can sound good or bad - just like non-noiseless ones. These are good ones.
Agreed. I love good sounding pickups; buzz or no buzz. That said, I'm continually on a quest to find a good noiseless solution for single coil pickups. I don't usually like most noiseless pickups of the stacked humbucker design. That approach tends to rob the single coil of top end. These seem to retain plenty of top end which i appreciate. I was intrigued do to the fact that each string/magnet gets its own coil. I think each coil is reverse wound to eliminate the 60 cycle hum. It's a pretty smart design that I'm sure took a lot of work to iron out. My A/B wasn't perfect but this was fun test to document. I agree that the Lawing pickups are viable option tonally. The plain covers are kind of ugly. I'm tempted to paint pole pieces on the covers.
Awesome demo! The zex coil pups seems to have really much more "stratiness" in the neck and middle - much better definition overall and really nice top end and "quack". Bridge sounds almost like a humbucker - which is great, if that's what you want.
Thanks! I’ll say the Zexcoils definitely have better top end clarity. For the bridge position, my tone was turned down some to help tame some of the brightness. Otherwise it was too bright, but I always turned down the tone control for this position. I have a bright touch. Thanks for watching!
The noiseless pickups have more clarity especially when you play a chord. More harmonic content is happening than the stock ones. And Noiseless is the way to go!! Great demo!!
The noiseless pickups are lower output and you can hear they’re not as hot; especially in the midrange frequencies. I think that’s why you’re hearing what you’re hearing. Like I’ve said before, the core tone of the pickup is what matter most. If I can get a single coil pickup that I’m happy with and that’s noiseless; that’s just icing on the cake. 😜 Thanks for commenting, bro.
Fender mexican standard pickups have come a long way. Not bad at all. With a little tone knob that bridge pickup is usable. The zex pickups sounded pretty nice too. They look really interesting. I'm assuming the little coil...pole-pieces(?) are each wired in series with their neighbor to get the hum canceling effect.
As I understand it, each coil / magnet pair of the Z Vex is wired in series like a micro humbucker. It’s a pretty clever solution. Thanks for watching and commenting.
I liked the tone comparisons but next time share more technical specs and details about what it is we are actually comparing. I’d love to see more about the noiseless pickups and why you chose them
That's good feedback. I omitted that sort of explanation bc I was making a couple of videos at once and I didn't want to get into the weeds with this particular video, but I think you're right including those details would've made the video better. I chose these Lawing Zexcoils because of their unique design. I've been unhappy with every stacked coil noiseless pickup design I've ever tried. These stood out to me for their innovative approach to solving the hum issue. You can read more about them here: lawingmusicalproducts.com/tru-gauge-pickups I also have an Illitch SSC system installed in another strat that I love, but installing that was a good bit of work and I didn't feel like doing that again for this guitar. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts.
OK, so I noticed a drop in output on all pos. I prefer the noiseless in pos 2, prefer the stock in pos 1, and the rest I'm having trouble deciding. For me, if I had 2 single coil guitars, I would consider putting the noiseless in one just because it's nice to get rid of the hum if you can. But maybe there's some character that's lost? So maybe keep a noisy strat around, too? That's my 2 strat fantasy. Now all I need is 2 strats! Tasty playing as always! Thanks for the vid, dude.
Yeah, listening back I had similar thoughts. Some positions on the stock set don’t sound as bad as I thought they did initially. You definitely need some single coil pickups in your life. I exclusively played with humbuckers in a tele for 15 years and then the desire to have single coils again struck. There’s a clarity and openness to a good single coil that you can’t get with humbuckers. Thanks for chiming in as always, bro.
I purchased the 2016 Fender Elite Stratocaster with noiseless pickups and after playing those stock pickups for a year, I just wasn't happy with the tone; didn't have that clarity and chime that I was used to with prior Fender strats I've owned. I replaced them with Klein 62 pickups to get more of that classic fender sound that seemed to be missing in those stock noiseless pickups. Yeah, it hums now but I'm happy with the trade-off. I never thought about 3rd party noiseless pickups like the Zexcoil; something to consider though for the time being, I'm sticking with my Klein 62's!
I had a set of Klein Jazzy Cats in a strat once and they sounded great! I also do some studio work and I'm always looking for a good noiseless single coil solution. The Ilitch Silent Single Coil System has been my favorite thus far, but it's a pain to install. If you can live with the hum, you have a lot more options with a better base tone.
@@tonecast1 No doubt there are advantages to noiseless single coils if you can find the tones that resonate with you; especially for studio work like you said. I haven't heard of that Ilitch Silent Single Coil System you mentioned either; I'll have to see if there are demos for that. I can definitely live with the hum for the time being!
Your username is savage. 😂 Yeah the blackguard pickguard definitely had the Gilmour vibe. Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.
The stock pickups have more of a Texas vibe to them, which I personally like a lot, however if you are looking for a more cleaner Clapton tone, the noiseless will do the trick. I prefer the white pickguard though.
Yeah, the stock pickups are definitely hotter. After a few months of having these pickups in the guitar, I haven't quite bonded with the guitar. I'm not sure if its the pickups or the guitar in general. The pickup swap was to see if it would help me enjoy the guitar more, but I still haven't been able to crack the code with this particular guitar. I also prefer the white pickguard. Thanks for watching!
The both sounded great to me but the scale tips to the stock to my ears. FYI you don't have to get hum canceling pickups to get noiseless operation. You can get standard pickups and a Back plate silent single coil system like an Illitch I have one on my strat and it's dead quite. I just had my pickups K-Line signature set all wound in the same direction with no RWRP in the middle pup. It's more quite than my HB loaded guitars
Yeah, I think tonally speaking both pickups are viable. Honestly, the stock pickups recorded better than I thought they would. I just tend to like lower output pickups and the stock pickups were hotter than I prefer. I actually have an Ilitch system installed on my other strat (sonic blue). You can see it in some of my other videos. I installed the system myself. I opted for the pickguard with the coil on the underside. It worked great with the Fender Custom Shop Fat 50's pickups in that guitar. It didn't alter the tone at all and it eliminated the 60 cycle hum. That said, the installation of that is a good bit more involved than these. I honestly didn't want to go down that road again. I was curious and willing to try something new for this guitar. I'm pleased with the results here too. Thanks for taking a moment to share your thoughts!
Now see… I was all prepared to tell you that the Zex sucked. But they don’t. I like how you showcased each pickup so quickly side by side. Nicely done! Question: when you put some dirt on them are they truly quiet like humbuckers? It’s obviously too hard to tell not being there.
zexcoil user here. I have zexcoil on neck and bridge and a high end hotrails humbucker in middle and both zexcoil pickups are quieter than the humbucker.
They do sound nice but I like the original pickups more. They have some sparkle shaved off. Did You try to set up EQ on the amp to get the most "stratlike" sound out of them?
The noiseless pickups lacked a bit of personality (for me) in the comparison but I would be happy with them without an AB test. I have a 2010 & a 2012 mex strat and my tech used to tell me he needed to eq them differently but I never really noticed the difference myself so I am probably not the best judge. But the stock pickups sounded more like classic strat pickups (breathy, interesting harmonic qualities, chimey etc). Position 2 showed a stark difference - the noiseless cleaned up beautifully. But the dirtier strat pickups also sounded great. I would have been happy with either to be honest. Either way its a great comparison, with lovely playing and a good demo of responsiveness to picking. Also what was your signal chain? The sound was beautiful.
That’s a well written response. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. The stock pickups definitely have more output which is what a lot of players tend to gravitate towards. The entire signal chain is in the description but position 2 had a Kingtone Blues Power on with very low amount of gain; all into a JMI30 (AC30). That was personally my favorite sound in the whole demo. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for letting me know. If you're listening on a phone is going to be hard to hear the differences, which admittedly are subtle. Differences may be more apparent with headphones or large speakers. Thanks for watching!
